Os"se*ous (?), a. [L. osseus, from os, ossis bone; akin to Gr. &?;,
Skr. asthi. Cf. Oyster.] Composed of bone; resembling bone; capable of
forming bone; bony; ossific.
Os"se*ter (?), n. [Russ, osetr' sturgeon.] (Zoöl.) A species of
sturgeon.
Os`si*an"ic (?), a. Of or pertaining to, or characteristic of, Ossian,
a legendary Erse or Celtic bard.
The compositions might be fairly classed as Ossianic.
G. Eliot.
Os"si*cle (?), n. [L. ossiculum, dim. of os, ossis, a bone.] 1. A
little bone; as, the auditory ossicles in the tympanum of the ear.
2. (Zoöl.) One of numerous small calcareous structures forming the
skeleton of certain echinoderms, as the starfishes.
Os*sic"u*la`ted (?), a. Having small bones.
||Os*sic"u*lum (?), n.; pl. Ossicula (#). [L., a little bone.] (Zoöl.)
||Same as Ossicle.
Os*sif"er*ous (?), a. [L. os, ossis, a bone + -ferous: cf. F.
ossifère.] Containing or yielding bone.
Os*sif"ic (?), a. [L. os, ossis, bone + facere to make: cf. F.
ossifique. See Fact.] Capable of producing bone; having the power to
change cartilage or other tissue into bone.
Os`si*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. ossification. See Ossify.] 1.
(Physiol.) The formation of bone; the process, in the growth of an
animal, by which inorganic material (mainly lime salts) is deposited in
cartilage or membrane, forming bony tissue; ostosis.
Besides the natural ossification of growing tissue, there is the
so-called accidental ossification which sometimes follows certain
abnormal conditions, as in the ossification of an artery.
2. The state of being changed into a bony substance; also, a mass or
point of ossified tissue.
Os"si*fied (?), a. Changed to bone or something resembling bone;
hardened by deposits of mineral matter of any kind; -- said of tissues.
Os"si*frage (?), n. [L. ossifraga, ossifragus, osprey, fr. ossifragus
bone breaking; os, ossis, a bone + frangere, fractum, to break. See
Osseous, Break, and cf. Osprey, Ossifragous.] (Zoöl.) (a) The
lammergeir. (b) The young of the sea eagle or bald eagle. [Obs.]
Os*sif"ra*gous (?), a. [L. ossifragus. See Ossifrage.] Serving to break
bones; bone-breaking.
Os"si*fy (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ossified (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Ossifying (?).] [L. os, ossis, bone + - fy: cf. F. ossifier. See
Osseous.] 1. (Physiol.) To form into bone; to change from a soft animal
substance into bone, as by the deposition of lime salts.